“The Contest of Champions” with TJ Storm | Lost Odyssey: Champions (2020)

[@RPG_Angie]

I love how: - TJ and the ladies visibly encourage other players through their screen - TJ rewards the champions' experience with extra information and checks based on their expertise - TJ structures the contest as three tasks with the combat one in the middle, confident that the players will make it through in time - and he makes it work! - Deborah's conceptualized her gladiator to be a fun personality and a good team player - Jason comes up with some dope spell-casting power moves - Joe balances Arkhan's evil and helpful sides - Alicia looks like a fantasy portrait every second of the game - Satine brings flavor to her spells (e.g. using tears for a mass healing word)

[@hypernick2341]

I would love to see Joe and deb start a dnd podcast coz I love how they tell story about dnd lore and experiences related to dnd

[@treehouseforkids]

Thanks so much for your support!

[@vernonhampton5863]

We do it for the kids.

[@andric2042]

Deborah makes me laugh with that strong alabama energy.

[@xMRxZEROx]

TJ Storm is my new favorite DM. He was already my favorite player. But damn can he run a game.

[@Static-EN-]

three decades of DM experience can do that to ya

[@BassByTheBay]

This was fun, and I _love_ TJ's DM style! One suggestion: the audio levels are all over the place. If possible, it'd be great if you ran the audio through a compressor/limiter to help normalize the levels. How you do this depends on how you're recording the audio, but it'd really improve the experience for your audience.

[@pedronalesso1464]

Yeah... I am having some trouble understanding what the Horc says

[@andrewarmstrong2159]

I love how TJ just looks so shocked the whole time

[@TheeIronDuck]

I love how joe is sitting there, listening to all the other pcs abilities figuring out which subclass they are. I can definately see that being and arkhan trait.

[@williampenney4954]

He observes his temporary allies so he knows how to defeat them when they become enemies.

[@vernonhampton5863]

@@williampenney4954 This is the way

[@ericr4677]

@@vernonhampton5863 this is the way

[@BIZEB]

TJ is such an amazing player and DM, my god. This is amazing.

[@harbscantina]

Wow...that's the most beautiful half orc I've ever seen :) Well done to everyone!

[@vernonhampton5863]

That's Alicia Marie, she's badass

[@corvus1253]

Agreed.😘

[@corvus1253]

Reminds me of Gamora.

[@apocalance]

Yeah, no idea who she is but she looks great.

[@goblinguru]

Hard to believe it was her first time playing. That cosplay is amazing and her rping was so good.

[@deltablaze77]

What a fantastic crew, and TJ Storm is awesome. :)

[@andrewarmstrong2159]

TJs facial expressions are hilarious!

[@AS-uw8fw]

This looks awesome! Can't wait to watch later tonight. I didn't know Gamestop did Dnd streams. Can't believe this doesn't have more views.

[@vernonhampton5863]

If you want to learn how to be a dungeon master, watch the DM tips series with Satine Phoenix or observe and take notes of everything TJ Storm does.

[@nat1baby]

Or watch d20...

[@daveyfunk]

I clicked on this for Deborah, but Alicia was incredible!!! Her first at doing this and she just nailed it. Shame her audio, but I loved the reactions of everyone while she was rp'ing. TJ was a great DM and really encouraging as well as bringing life to the story

[@markm1261]

These Lost Odyssey shows are awesome they go into some crazy depths of a entertaining story. I have always wanted to see a DM by T.J. Storm The cast was also fantastic.

[@thickskull]

This is so good - love the Excalibur references with pictures of young Mordred :)

[@otiswhitt1129]

Should be asleep after running tonight’s game but this is too good I’m gripped. TJ Storm is a fantastic DM

[@BassByTheBay]

Agreed. I love that he doesn't sweat the details and focuses on the big picture.

[@Blackwolf1400]

I was in what was called shafer house much like tree house. I knew a lot of the people there as we interacted a lot. I grew up to be a well rounded person, but so for the most part ( if they have caring house parents) it is a very good program.

[@AniBashShow]

That orc cosplay is amazing 😻

[@chipsalom]

love watching the new players they highlight in these streams

[@johncage5368]

Very nice team. Never get Jason angry. His brilliant spell combinations would fry you so badly. ;) Awesome outfit, Alicia.

[@aBrokenShard]

Man CR the studio should give TJ his own show! Man can he DM, he is brilliant and has his own style and so much experience!

[@randallmaier4036]

Wow! Just..... wow! Great story! VERY talented players!

[@thehohcollective5201]

I've been waiting for this so intensely.

[@piergraham4181]

The boy in golden armor was Mordred from Excaliber.

[@mixmastermike2128]

HOLY OWLBEARS(batman) THIS IS AN AMAZING STORY!

[@carnineja]

I actually enjoyed the technology problems they had. It felt so real like I'm just playing with friends.

[@BenBarredo]

Finally watching a game of d&d, I feel so regretful that I've spent a good portion of my life assuming all of the negative stereotypes of the game and ignoring my in ner nerd, because the crazy thing is is I love fantasy and sci-fi and adventure and these are the kind of video games I like to play and movies I like to watch and books I like to read. So now I'm here about to be 40 years old and fascinated with the game and desperate to get myself into it. I'm going to go and buy a starter kit today. Can anybody tell me the best online sources to start playing via Zoom while I build up my experience as a newbie and then I can start looking for local games and games within driving distance of where I live?

[@zmollon]

The fifth edition starters are pretty awesome and you can even run it for a single friend solo. Discord has a number of helpful additions to make it easier. Roll20 is free but takes some getting used to. Ideally you would have two cameras one for your face and one overhead of the map where all characters are. Let me know if you have more questions and welcome.

[@BenBarredo]

@@zmollon do you have any tips on how to get into a game?

[@zmollon]

@@BenBarredo unfortunately I don't. I would say be the dungeon masters to a few friends who are willing to try. There are lots of good tutorials on being a dungeon Master and how to play dungeons and dragons. Using the pregenerated characters will also be a helpful starting point so people get a feel for the game before trying to customize a character for themselves.

[@xMRxZEROx]

@@BenBarredo There are a few ways. Like zmollon said, you could start by asking any close friends if they'd be willing to learn too. It's what got me started. I had a friend I mentioned to that I really wanted to start getting into D&D and he said he'd take the journey with me. He ended up going the DM route and he's been running most of our games since. But he's been bugging me to learn to DM so I can run a game and he can play for once. But you asked about how to get into a game. Becuase honestly the best and fastest way to learn is to just dive headlong into it. You learn better by being in game and playing it. You retain more information that way. My OG group played last night. We started around 5:30 EST on the Roll20 platform. Roll20 may be one of the more popular ones. If only because it's an online platform, so there's no apps or programs required to download and install. You can play on your end for free if you find a game/DM who has a Pro tier subscription ($100 per year). But the other bonus to Roll20 is that it has integrated video chat. So you don't have to do the annoying situation of having to use Zoom or Discord for video chat, and then something else for the campaign running. It can be a good thing and a bad thing. Becuase the video windows take up precious screen space for your game. But, I've found that you can make the windows smaller, which is what I do, and then move and stack the windows off in the lower right corner where they're usually not in the way much. But I was recently invited to join a different group and their campaign. I'm subbed to a certain KZbin channel that's geared towards some of my interests, that being Harry Potter and wand making. Not a HUGE channel. Only about 40k subs or so. But on their live stream this passed Friday we got to talking about D&D and the game they're playing, and I half jokingly asked how I get invited to play with them. And he told me to message him on Instagram. So now I am trying to learn a new platform. Becuase they play using the newer Fantasy Grounds Unity, which is currently in open beta trying to improve upon their classic platform. The differences here from Roll20 is that it IS a program you need to download and install to play. And another difference is that it doesn't have integrated video chat. Which I think is a bummer. But, it's still manageable. They use Zoom for video chat. And there are several ways to get around this situation to avoid having to click back and forth between FGU and Zoom. You can run FGU on your computer, and maybe run Zoom on your phone for the video chat. Or you could use a second monitor and have Zoom on one, FGU on the other. Or there are many overlay apps you can get on your computer that will allow you to have Zoom as an overlay on top of FGU. Little more clunky, but many people play this way becuase Fantasy Grounds has many extra benefits over Roll20. There's far more cool automation. It makes things easier and cleaner to play and build characters. It has a cool feature where your characters languages are super relevant. Say my PC speaks Elvish and the rest of the party doesn't. If we meet and Elf, the DM can go into the chat and set the language to Elvish and type out what the Elf is saying. And when they send it, I would see the Elvish script as well as a translation, but the rest of the party will only see the Elvish and have no idea what he's saying. Makes the role play aspect more realistic. After all, there's a big difference between character knowledge and player knowledge. Another option would be finding a local hobby shop or store that has D&D nights. You can go and try to find a group that will let you play with them and it may become permanent. So I hope this helps. I know I blabbed for a while and I don't know if you even got to this point. But anyway. I'm glad you're trying to get into it. D&D is a super fun game and you're in for a treat. If you're having a hard time finding anyone to play with online, feel free to contact me and I'll try to talk to my group about letting you sit in and try a session or two to get your feet wet. 🤟🏻😁

[@SergioMendez369]

I frequently run games on Zoom online, if you got any questions, DM me :D

[@simonthedevil452]

The kid in the golden armour (picture) is from Excalibur 1981.

[@erebus5428]

Wish Joe had his own stream. He is the man

[@archiesto4444]

Arkhan the cruel - with his adorable doggie lol

[@Farengithemage]

This is the first time I've seen TJ and I am so impressed! I've seen lots of Deb's d&d videos, playing and DMing, she's incredible too. Did they say what level they are?

[@xMRxZEROx]

I love the unicorn story. 🤣

[@SirEdgard1013]

Aw so bummed I didn't hear about this on time to donate to the campaign!

[@erebus5428]

TJ CRUSHED it🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@BossTripp1]

If the cleric used daylight, that underdark fight would have been cake...

[@razortongue9000]

"the middle finger of Vecna" 🤣

[@TheGreatBlackPhantom]

This was good...!

[@leslierobinson8724]

The audio, and tech difficulties aside, this was truly great stuff.

[@paladinbob1236]

a great session..enjoyed this one immensely :)

[@lumbahrye]

"Very good" - TJ Storm

[@fghtk4009]

What a time

[@keshundavis5979]

This is Awesome

[@Ragnarok6664]

Nice 👍🏻 but it’s Magniolo who keeps snorting in the mic?

[@annerudolph6305]

Does anyone know what the build is for the dragon born and for the Sorcer wizard

[@adrenalineunlimited]

I know you can Google Arkhan the Cruel and find a level 17 character sheet, since when he's gained 1 level of paladin

[@navdhillon7912]

Hit and miss. This was hard to watch

[@carbonickid]

With Debra using that accent and holding her headphone mic up to her mouth, it makes me think she's speaking into a CB radio.

[@angelortiz9994]

Nice to see Jessica Hamby as a monk...

[@sabastiangarrowman1942]

Has Joe every played any one but Arkan? he seem like a good player and I would like to see him do something different

[@nikowoodrow3572]

yes, i think once ive seen

[@joshuaharvey8046]

Yeah he played a human draconic sorcerer in a live stream of descent into Avernus. It on KZbin.

[@jamesgroeling6777]

He played a minotaur in the Day1 live session of Force Grey, before switching to Arkhan for the rest of the campaign.

[@TheeIronDuck]

He played torogaurd, the minitour, in one of the live events. I cant remember which one. Deborah was also in it, she played a barbarion, and their characters were always having a contest to see who is strongest. I believe matt lillard was in it too. With matt mercer as the dm.

[@ctrl5636]

@@MidoriChanOG that was Chris perkins

[@zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcba0]

The audio makes it super rough to enjoy lol

[@Coddlesworth]

Remember, KS doesn't mean "Kill Steal," it means "Kill Secured"

[@bulgingbattery2050]

I WANT TO CAST MAGIC MISSILE!

[@dontwanadisplaynameonutube2951]

Thanks Shaggy!

[@lordcoyote2000]

Welp, at least the champions weren't summoned by the Grandmaster.

[@corvus1253]

Jessica Hamby became a monk.😁

[@BeastMasterNeil]

The Ice Lady looks like Jodie Foster. Or is that Jodie Froster?

[@eleanorjean1156]

It is at least based on her

[@SirRav73]

Omg joe stop the noises your mic is way too close

[@cliffordbrown3332]

Is it just me or does ice lady look like Jodi foster? Just a question 😉

[@BeastMasterNeil]

I was trying to work out who she was for ages. Clearly it's Jodie Froster.

[@erebus5428]

He ain’t called Arkhan “The Pleasant”

[@archiesto4444]

Joe needs to learn to mute his mic when he is breathing and not fighting lol... but this is good... I like it, I am use to Critical Role, but I am halfway through, if it wasn't for the breathing it would be a lot better!!

[@jimmyjablanski6564]

so if you stop this video at 1:06:40 it just looks like a group of people laughing over a dead guy.

[@loganxman]

Paladins are the best.

[@levyan4718]

THE ZOOK

[@corvus1253]

Alas, the disadvantages of playing online. Awesome group though!

[@BossTripp1]

She probably should have read about her class before playing. Unarmored movement lets her run up vertical surfaces.... nvm she read it lol

[@jamesgrant3752]

Joe needs to read the rules for raging. Can't rage and cast spells guy.

[@kevincoplen1204]

Didn't he steal the hand in critical role and not the forgotten realms?

[@Adgnor1949]

Did he name all these people as Illuminati?

[@jengergen]

While I'm enjoying this very much, and everyone's talent is shining, Joe's mic picking up every breath and swallow (ASMR nightmare 🤢) in contrast to Alicia's poor audio is making my skin crawl. I don't think I'm gonna make it through. 😔

[@TheCreativeWill]

I personally hate when DM's let in world things slide for no reason other than to make a player feel better about a plan or save time. The frozen man getting thawed out for example. Based on how the events eventually went, Joe helped light the fire then defrosted a frozen arm in 6 seconds to the point the zombie could move it and unfreeze the rest of himself. Frozen flesh has really big problems thawing out, the cell walls all rupture when the ice crystals form everywhere then when you unfreeze they turn into a goopy mess. Also, Daylight is just light (magic light), and not heat at all. Arkhan should have been dead. TJ gave him 5 minutes to live in the conditions then they just ignored the time limit, plus he should have had reduced movement speed based on the snow and the fact that cold-blooded creatures slow down when there body temp lowers. Still a fun stream but either make good on the threats as a DM or just set the session in a field of flowers on a sunny day where everyone lives happily and no conflict occurs.

[@Rajalord27]

😂😂😂😂😂😂 wait let me put my ork teeth in ! What's so pathetic about being humble

[@swirvinbirds1971]

Yawn... Call me when a character actually dies. Until then it's just story telling and not a game. Thanks.